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Success Stories
Inspirational stories posted by veterans, active military, family & friends telling how they successfully found and reunited with their old
friends & family, enjoyed a reunion together, along with the feelings and emotions that were evoked.
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Reunion
30 years after discharge, I got on the internet and decided to look up an old buddy who served with me in the radio dept. of the Enterprise. He was from Iowa or Nebraska and was scheduled to get out about 6 months after I did.(Aug.12,1970) We did everything together when off duty, from riding motorcycles to chasing women. He had a fairly unusual last name, but when I entered a search for his name in those two states, nothing showed up. So, I just did a general search for the entire U.S.! To my surprise, his name came up with an address in Phoenix, AZ, where I am from, and still reside. Not only was he in town, but he lived less than 2 miles from me! He had moved to Phoenix 12 years prior as an employee of the phone co. Not only had he lived nearby, but had passed my house, everyday on his way to work. Since I had a very distinctive vehicle, a motorized stagecoach, he knew immediately where I was! We had lunch together shortly after that, but have gone different directions in life! Not much in common now! But it was good to see him anyway! ' ' ' |
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reunion 2004
I felt I had been reunited with a long lost brother.The 8th annual reunion for the USS William M. Wood DD/DDR-715 was to be held in Jacksonville, FL. We got our committee together and started the process. We contracted with the hotel, got tours lined up, got the banquet set up and turned out to be the best one yet, thanks to our diligent crew of shipmates in FL. This was my first reunion since leaving the Wood in 1974. I had hoped to see several of my fellow supply dept. buddies, especially our supply officer, LT. John T Michel. I had not seen him since January of 1974 when I left the Wood. Well, as it would happen, I was in the hospitality room at the hotel, and was reminiscing with a few of the supply dept. when who comes in but the LT., he came toward me across the room, I was wondering who this is coming toward me with this big grin on his face? When he put his arm around me and said hi Dennis, I knew immediately who it was. We talked back and forth the whole weekend talking about different people that were in the department. I felt I had been reunited with a long lost brother. This man meant a lot to me while on the Wood. I made SK3 while in his division. When I left the Wood in January of 1974, I went to Charleston,S.C. and went aboard the USS Yellowstone AD-27. She was being readied for decommissioning. But I always remembered him no matter where I was. ' ' ' ' |
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After 22 years
Thank You Very Much For all you help, I found him!!!!!!!!! After 22 Years!!!!Thank You Very Much For all your help, I found him!!!!!!!!! After 22 Years!!!! |
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renion
This year in June we are having our reunion and planning on having 52 men from the 574th trans, with their families. Thank you VET FRIENDS for getting me started.I would like to share with you my reunion story. I started looking for my old company after 43 years. Vet Friends is what got me started with their info and help over the past 3 years. Now I have had a reunion at my place for about 10 of us. It has been great. This year in June we are having our reunion and planning on having 52 men from the 574th trans, with their families. If it hadn't been for Vet Friends I would have only kept track of one man in IOWA. Thank you VET FRIENDS for getting me started. We love our vets. God bless you. ' |
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40th reunion (1st)
Just a fantastic reunion, I am putting together our 2nd one nowWell it had been 40+ years since any of us 590th Transportation (1961-64) buddies had ever gotten back together. A couple of us had talked a time or two by phone and all I ever heard was we need to have a reunion, but nothing ever happened, so, one day I decided it was past time for a 590th reunion so I started searching for all I could locate after 40+ years . It is really much tougher than I thought but I finally located about 15 of us. So I set up a reunion place in Branson, Mo. and set up a few shows to attend. Out of the 15, 12 did attend the reunion and let me tell you it was just like going back in time 40 years. We all had a wonderful time rehashing the old days and getting reunited after such a long time apart. Even the wives got along very well, probably because of having seen the old Army pictures of us in Army and hearing about us numerous times throughout the years. Well needless to say Branson, Mo. is a great place for a reunion with numerous activities and great eating facilities. But, we mostly stayed around the motel and sat around and talked in our comp room until it closed then we sat around the pool or parking lot till 2 or 3 in the morning. Just a fantastic reunion, I am putting together our 2nd one now and hoping to locate at least a few more attendees this year. ' ' |
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Reunion
In the past 6 months 24 living and 3 deseased Troopers from the 63-64 9th Cav, Vets from the Korean DMZ group have been located.In the past 6 months 24 living and 3 deceased Troopers from the 63-64 9th Cav, Vets from the Korean DMZ group have been located. ' |
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The Miracle of the Internet
We were reunited after 59 years! In time time for the dedication of the World War II memorial.The last thing I remember saying to him was "switches off, and gas off" as we crash-landed in France on August 26, 1944. We were part of a Troop Carrier crew which consisted of Lts. Ralph Curtis, pilot, Leonard Greiner, co-pilot, Sgt. Adolf Fronczak, engineer, and Sgt. John Penning, Radio Operator. We were on a re-supply mission, providing General Patton and his armored columns with much needed gasoline. We had unloaded the gas at a forward location near Paris, and were returning to home base at Ramsbury, England, when suddenly both engines quit. We frantically hit the wobble pump and auxiliary gas supply. We got a slight sputter, but at 3000 feet there is not much time for recovery, so we prepared for the crash that was to follow. The crash report absolved the crew of any blame, and the C-47 transport was 85% destroyed. I, the pilot, and the two enlisted crew members incurred no injuries, and in a couple of days following the crash were returned to the 437th Troop Carrier Group, our parent organization. I was never told anything about the condition of my crewmember, but I did learn from the two enlisted men that Greiner had suffered severe injuries in the upper portion of his body, and probably would be unable to return to England and rejoin our Group and our crew. Leonard and I had become close friends since we had endured a lot of challenges together. On D-Day, we participated in the invasion of France, and as all other troop carrier pilots will attest to, it is not a pleasant experience to fly low and slow, towing gliders, or dropping paratroopers. The eeriness of this is compounded on nighttime missions when it seems that every bullet in the sky is aimed right at you, and the tracer fire dances up and down the glider tow lines. Our second D-Day mission was equally exciting. Again, we dropped gliders in the St. Mere Egliese area of France. Right after dropping the glider I descended rapidly in an arc in order to pick up speed and to clear the area. As I remembered it, we dove towards a Church steeple in the town from where we took heavy fire, but Leonard seems to remember it a little different. He is of the opinion that we were under fire by a gatling gun. In any event whatever hit us meant business. Leonard's right rudder pedal was shot completely off, with the shot then ricocheting up through the throttle quadrant, and then slammed into the Command radio set right above my head, dropping the radio into my lap. That truly caused some excitement, but no one sustained a scratch. You must know that our Lord was looking out after us. We also participated in other missions, including the Southern invasion of France, which was launched from Italy, but that was a milk run, compared to the Normandy missions. Combat missions bond crewmembers together, and I certainly felt lost without Leonard. I had heard that he was very seriously injured and it disturbed me, but the subsequent missions that followed temporarily removed those memories from my mind. After the war I started to try and locate him, and to determine if he was still alive. I knew he was from Iowa, but I had forgotten his middle initial. I made it a practice almost to call the Leonard Greiners in Iowa every time I got in the vicinity of the State. It is amazing how many Leonard Greiners there are in Iowa. One old codger once told me, "Hell Man! you have called me three times". While on leave in 1942 and while awaiting an opening for flight training I returned to Cheyenne, Wyoming and married Frieda Magill. Together we made the Air Force a career and engaged in many interesting assignments overseas. Our family consisted of two sons and a daughter. In 1945, and following his recovery, Leonard returned to civilian life in Hudson, Iowa, where he resumed a farming career. He married Mary Hermann in 1946, and they had three children, two boys and a girl. We still had not made contact with one another, and in fact, neither one of us knew if the other was alive. One day in April 2003, while sitting at the computer, and having no thoughts about Leonard, I said to myself "What would happen if I put my name, Ralph R. Curtis, in the search engine". I did and the first thing I noticed was "Accident report of Aircraft crash August 26, 1944". It seems that someone had the bright idea to collect all the data on crash reports and sell it for a reasonable fee. I got the data and soon learned that Greiner's middle initial was A. Through the miracle of the Internet and VetFriends, we found each other. The rest is history, we were reunited in Iowa about 59 years later, and met again in Washington D.C. in time for the dedication of the World War II memorial. ' |
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Reunion Story
Finally Learned what happened to my Grandfather in WWIIMy daughter was studying World War II in school. My grandfather, David W. Burns, had been killed in Augsburg, Germany on April 28, 1945. I decided to try to find out what had happened to him, so after searching the internet for only about a week I was directed to William Keene, who was my grandfather's lieutenant - and just so happened to be standing next to him when he was killed. I called Mr. Keene and was told the story about my grandfather's death. The story has led to finally knowing what had happened and when looking at my grandfather's picture the rest of the family is able to put an end to his life. ' ' |
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Rescue from LAOS
I started attending reunions and getting in touch with more and more guys that I knew. GOD THIS IS GREAT! The time frame was Feb. to April 1971, the location was I Corp SVN, the mission air lift 18,000 south vietnamese soldiers into Laos and sever the " Ho Chi Min Trail " Code name " LAMSON 719 " or " DEWEY CANYON II ". My name is " BOW " and I'm a second tour volunteer when most american units are standing down and going home the Army Helicopter units are standing down in II & III Corps and heading north where the DMZ is about to become home for the next five or six months. Rumor had it that this op could help bring the VN War to an end in as little as a year. Don't bet on it:( I flew with the 48th Assault Helicopter Company, 1st Avn Bde., I'm a slick (troop carring huey) doorgunner and have had at this time many hours logged in CA operations. This was about to be one for the books and one hardly ever mentioned as it was in my opinion a real Cluster*?**^#@? if you get my drift. We americans weren't allowed to set foot in Laos because we were strickly in a support role as the south vietnamese were taking over the major figting in their war. But be as it may when you get your heli-ass shot out from under you you can be sure your going down and not in SVN. As was the case for many hueys from dozens of other units during this mission. Feb 8th 10:00hrs 1971 we were one of the many lead choppers fairring arvns into several LZs in Laos. Well needless to say we got our shit shot out of us and by the Grace of God only one crewmember wounded, our CE (crewchief). The fire was coming from everywhere as we approached the LZ, {picture yourself on a stage at night in the dark and a light shines on you an in the darkness you see nothing but camera flashes going off at you} okay but in front of all these flashes we were seeing were bullets lots & lots of hot lead, brass or full metal jackets headed your way sizing from .223, 23mm, 37mm & 51cal., air flack from artilery and an occassional S.A.M. ... Yes sir this was one for the books alright the one that will not be written. The 48th AHC lost all of its Charlie model gun ships in the first two weeks and a loss of 11 out of nineteen gun crewmembers they gave their all for us in the slicks an the arvns' on the ground. This story is about one of those crewmembers , one I had know an flew with in another company, his name " SMOKEY ". Well it wasaround the 8th or 9th of march when SMOKEY'S crew was called up for a cover mission for an extraction in a really hot area. Without hesitation they loaded p topped off and headed out, upon arrival in the AO they immeadately came in contact with the enemy and engaged sucessfully and enabled the slicks to make there pick ups, upon departing the AO the gunship was reporting taking heavey fire and going down . Well needless to say our ship was in the nearby area an closess to respond to the rescue we had our gunship with us for support and they accompanied us . Upon arriving we began recieving heavy fire and our guns went to work as my A/C made his approach to the downed gunship, we hit the ground hard and straight forth went the CE and myself to help retreive the crew , I'm not sure who all got hit as I had focused on the CE who turned out to be SMOKEY he was hit bad three or four places, Oh God I thought to myself, Oh *&@#*?* he's not gonna make it, I packed holes with gauze one of the orther crewmembers helped me get him to our ship. Once there I applied a pressure bandage to his side and looked him in the eyes and said " Your Doing Just Great Man!! Shit they'll give probably give you your R&R now"" Ya see neither one of us had an R&R in the nine months we'd been there. In my head I just knew he wasn't gonna make it , he was bleeding out badly and was rolling his eyes back and I just kept crackin on him and would get a smile now and then. We were 120klicks out from Khe San and it seemed like a life time. When we finaly got to the hospital they tool the crew away and we went back to the staging area after refueling and waited on our next mission and word from someone about the crew. Not a word the rest of that day, I just knew he had bought it, DAMN DAMN,.. When I left Nam in Jun 71 I pretty much had enough of lossing colse friends and trying to forget was impossible as I was about to find out, so I made several attempts on finding some of the guys I know went home walking anyway. Only to find there parents answering the phone and telling me this one had been killed on his buddies motorcycle, and his buddy like wise a few weeks apart was also killed on the other guys motorcycle how ironic, and one of my pilot buddies was shot down over new mexico by the DEA and another CE was doing time in Oregon. Kinda hopeless and sadden , then I finally got connected by a LT. in group therapy for PTSD , who sugested a web site for Heli-Vets and I did:) Boy since then I've made contact with Lizzard a gunship CE who almost blew my ship out of the air but that's in another part of this mission:)) Also my A/C Danny Grossman, my CO Willis Bunting whom by the way were my pilots on this very mission. I've attended one 48th AHC reunion and while attending it found out about the unit I served with prior to going to the 48th and that is the 281st AHC Intruders, where both SOMKEY and I came from. I started attending the 281st reunions as I started getting intouch more and more with the guys that I knew that had made it home, GOD THIS IS GREAT!!! Now because of the reunions and one person in paticular Gary Staggman for locating some of the guys I was looking for. I call this one guy CE Billy Hendersen and we talked and talked and he said he was going to be at the SOARXXVI reunion along with the 281stAHC and he said SMOKEY'LL be there. Damn Damn I said SMOKEY !!!??? He's alive??? "YEAH didn't you know they shipped him to Japan and six months later back to the states??"" You got an address , a phone number?? "Yeah, here it is." I called SMOKEY!!! God my heart was pounding and I was sweatting , damn it sounded like the kid after all these years , it was like his voice hadn't changed a bit, like I remembered in my dreams(mares) flashbacks. God this wa too great . "SMOKEY that really YOU?" " YEAH MAN, ya know BOW last time I saw you you looked like an ANGEL coming down to get me." Then came the reunion man now a dry eye in the crowd. There were one of my pilots CWO Gary "Pete" Pedersen, CE Larry D. Lewis, CE Ross Gambino, CE Billy Hendersen, Cpt Roger Hawlkins, LT Jack Green and last but NOT least Paul Leonard "SMOKEY":) At one point in time back in one of our hotel rooms BSing with the crews we were saying how we al had thought of one another and how we were doing and how good it would be to get together again, when SMOKEY asked me "Hey BOW ,how come you didn't mention me ? " " I thought we wre pretty tight?" " I grabbed old SMOKEY with tears in my eyes and hugged him and said " Bro you don't know how many nights I've grieved and cryed my eyes out thinking I lost you!" Emmional hell that's putting it mildly, I was elated, estatic and most of ALL BLESSED to have my brother back in my life again. So Brothers, family and friends if you ever thought you have lost someone you loved weither they are here now or not you go to one of their unit reunions you find someone who knew your loved one and you'll find a part of your family you never knew exsited, Your VETERAN FAMILY:) We did what we did cause we LOVED YOU TOO. May God Grant you his Mercy and Grace and Peace through his son Jesus Christ thank you sincerely Kenneth L. Boling "BOW" US ARMY 68-71 1/46th C/4 1SFG 281st AHC, 5th SFG 155th AHC 48th AHC 67/a10,67/1F, 67/n2F ' |
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I Found My Friend, Hoppe
We cried... we laughed... we relived some old stories. It was pure joy.I've been trying to locate friends that I made (from all the services) via the Internet since December, 2003 -- without luck. Then, late one night a call came from a young woman. The young woman's husband had found his mother-in-law's name on the Internet, and that I was looking for her. The young woman said she was asking if I was the woman looking for her mother. She needed to know if I was THE Diane ("The Greek") because there was no E-mail address with my message. After I assured her that I was the one and only, she gave me her mother's phone number. I called my friend Hoppe whom I haven't seen in over 40-plus years. We cried...we laughed...we relived some old stories. It was pure joy. Now, we E-mail each other daily. It's just one of the greatest things to have happened to me in my senior years! ' |
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